Viktoriia Voitsitska: The shadow economy appeared because of the fact that business does not trust the state

10.01.2019

“There is some kind of an informal arrangement in Ukraine – the state will keep turning a blind eye to the existence of this shadow economy for a while, and business will keep pretending that they are paying taxes in order to ensure social benefits, among other things,” says Samopomich deputy Viktoriia Voitsitska.

“If business knew that the money they pay is not plundered, if they saw that the state, officials, the government are really interested in using taxpayers’ money efficiently, instead of stealing this money, I’m more than sure that the situation would change.”

In the opinion of Viktoriia Voitsitska, trust is the first and foremost thing, “The trust of business in the state, which should protect the former, instead of being a “legalized raider”. This is exactly what the Security Service, the Prosecutor’s Office, the tax authorities are now.

Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses tell the lawmaker that now this is not called “giving a bribe”, now this is called “sharing”. But nothing changes in its essence. “So, when we finally eliminate all these corrupt officials from the customs, when the tax authorities start serving the business, rather than punishing it, then the business will cease to pay envelope salaries, then we will have enough money in the Pension Fund, and then there will be decent pensions.”